The Mahasi Meditation: How is it different?

Sorry for not posting for the last 2 weeks. I went for another meditation retreat. If the first one was to lay the foundation, this second one is to build on the foundation already laid. Since the first retreat, I have had more understanding of the Mahasi meditation system. And really, we must not get confused with other methods. 

The Mahasi abdomen method is often compared with the breathing using the nose. Well, actually the Mahasi method is more than just anapanasati. It’s the whole Satipatanna. Abdomen is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s the beginning journey for aspiring meditators. We start with meditating on the abdomen movement, instead of jumping straight into noting everything that arises in the six senses. That would be an impossibility for beginners. In actual fact, the entire training is to get one to contemplate everything that “hits” the six senses. Eventually that is what we need to accomplish. It’s actually not that easy if you know what it is like to note every sensation, every object we see, hear, touch and think. Even doing their walking meditation is already difficult. 

In other groups, their walking meditation consists of a stroll in the park with singing along the way in huge groups. The eyes looking here and there, with no mindfulness of the body movement. Is that even walking meditation? During their mealtimes, all mindfulness is also rested. Gone. Lots of chatter during mealtimes. In Mahasi retreats, it is not like that. The expectation of the Mahasi lineage teachers is actually high. Unfortunately, it is we ourselves who are not able to do as much as the teachers would like us to. For one, I confess my lack of effort to fully do the mindfulness outside of the sitting and walking meditations. Even my walking meditation is much to be desired, but it has improved since the beginning. I will try. 

Let me share with you one difference between this Mahasi method and the usual anapanasati / breathing method. The meditators using the former method focuses on the movement of the abdomen, whereas the latter focuses on the breathing in and out, usually on the nostrils. Some teachers of the latter taught focusing on the tip of the nostrils, whereas others focus on the sensation as a result of the breathing in and out in the nostrils. It is well documented that after some prolonged period, the breath will become more subtle and less easy to detect. It may even seem to disappear altogether. And according to the teachers, they have their own guidance on how to deal with this issue. However, if you think the mvement in the abdomen will also have similar experience, then you are wrong. The movement of the abdomen is NOT supposed to become less apparent and disappear. Instead, it is supposed to move all the time, as long as you are alive! In this Vipassana technique, the clearer and closer you are in focusing and without a break in analysing the movement of rising and falling, the better! The Venerable Sayadaw sdvises that meditators should mentally and physically be energetic in focusing each rising and falling. So, in the meditation on the abdomen avoids the issue altogether that comes with focusing on the breathing itself. You also do not experience any nimitta that may arise from the nostrils breathing method. Nimittas are visual images that arise in the mind as your level of concentration increases. Usually it arises from samatha concentrations. Okay, that's all I my post for now. Do keep up your own meditation. 

If you wish to read other posts, this is one previous post you may like: https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2016/01/mind-and-methods.html

Yes, as stated above, the Mahasi method ultimately is a meditation on the mind too. You contemplate and look into the nature of whatever arises within the mind.

#satipatthana #Mahasi #meditation